Grown Up Feelings
by The Eclectic Eccentric
Summary: Wendy has been struggling with the idea of growing up for sometime now. Then, during the final battle between Hook & Peter, she realizes that she already has. Years later, she is determined to prove Neverland's existence to her now skeptical brothers.
1. Chapter 1

"Old! Alone! Done for! Old! Alone! Done for!"

The whole ship was chanting the dark mantra as they watched Hook fall lower and lower in the sky.  
The hungry crocodile, which had been waiting to take another bite out of Hook for as long as the people of Neverland could remember, waited below with his mouth open wide. Hook desperately tried to think happy thoughts, but nothing could drown out the chanting.

Done for, that's what he truly believed he was until he saw young Wendy pressed up against the railing and looking up at him with a terrified eyes. After all that he had put her though, the fact that she still seemed worried about it well being was heartwarming. And with that he was able to fly a little higher, just out of the reach of the crocodile.  
But chanting aboard the Jolly Roger soon grew louder and Hook began to sink once more.

Wendy spun around to face the crowd of pirates and Lost Boys with a disgusted look on her face.

"Stop it! Stop it all of you!" Wendy cried.

This silenced many of the Lost Boys, who dared not disobey their mother.

But there were still many who continued chanting, and of course Peter. Hook seemed to be losing hope and looked up toward the sky for what he thought would be the last time.

"Stormy seas! Gun fire! Stories! A friend!" Wendy shouted to Hook, trying desperately to help the man that both frightened her and fascinated her.

He smiled slightly and was able to fly, not so gracefully, toward the ship.

Wendy quickly reached her hand out to help Captain Hook back aboard and as far away as possible from the hungry crocodile below. The moment his feet hit the deck, everyone grew dangerously silent and backed away. And those few pirates that had stayed to witness their captain's demise, quickly jumped ship.

"Wendy, what did you do that for?" Peter asked angrily as he swooped down and landed on the railing of the ship.

He stood looking down at the young girl with his arms crossed, waiting for a good answer.

"Peter don't you understand? This is not one of your silly little games! This is real Peter, not pretend!" Wendy yelled, the frustration she was feeling clear in her voice.

"But Wendy… he's old! It doesn't matter." he said as if it were obvious.

Wendy looked at Peter and could not believe her ears as he jumped from the railing and came towards her.

"You were going to_ kill_ him." She said slowly, like she did when she was trying to explain things to young Michael.

"Who cares?" He asked, shrugging and laughing.

Then, for the first time since Wendy had arrived in Neverland, she was truly frightened of the great Peter Pan. Her thoughts then turned to Hook, the man she had always hated, but only because Peter told her she should. Now as she looked at Hook she finally realized why he hated Peter so much, it was his assertiveness, his pride, his lack of concern towards others.

"I do." Wendy finally whispered.

Peter wrinkled his nose at the idea and crossed his arms. The Lost Boy's all gasped and began to whisper to one another.

"Wendy, come on, you're sounding like a grown up and I don't wanna play with any stupid grown up." He said scowling at her.

"I am very sorry Peter, but perhaps you should take me home then." Wend said sadly.

Peter shook his head stubbornly and flew into the air.

"I don't help grownups!" He shouted before flying off in the direction of his hideout, with Tinkerbell right beside him.

"Peter! Peter, come back here right now! How are we supposed to get home?" She screamed, but Peter was already too far away to hear her.

Wendy then turned to look at her brothers, who ran and threw their arms around their sister.

"Wendy, I miss mother." Michael cried.

Wendy bent down and hugged her youngest brother and then looked up at John who had tears welling up in his bespectacled eyes. She stood and took him in her arms as well.

"It's all right you two, I promise. I'll find a way to get you home." She whispered.

Hook watched this exchange with fascination, wondering why this young girl had risked her own well being for his. Growing uncomfortable with the Darling's emotional display, he cleared his throat.

"Miss Darling." Hook then said, stepping forward.

The poor girl jumped and turned to face him, pushing her brothers behind her.

"Captain." She said, with a small curtsy.

Wendy's heart seemed to beat a little faster when she saw Hook and she couldn't tell if it was out of fear or something else. Something she didn't quite understand yet.

"Perhaps you and I could talk in private, Miss Darling?" He asked, looking around at all the Lost Boys who were all either scowling or looking at him in fear.

Hook's forget-me-not blue eyes flashed red at the sight of the disrespectful young boys glaring in his direction, but he quickly composed himself and held his right arm out for the girl. Wendy looked up at him and nodded before lightly placed her arm on his.  
As they walked toward the captain's quarters she could hear Mr. Smee's voice ringing back on deck. She smiled slightly as she realized he must have decided that it was safe to return now that the captain was out of sight.

Wendy then glanced at the sinister hook, but not out of fear anymore... for now Wendy believed that this man did have some good left in him.


	2. Chapter 2

"Please, Miss Darling, sit." He said as the entered the room, motioning toward the chair with his hook.

Wendy smiled politely and sat.

"Thank you, Captain." She said.

Captain Hook sat down in an identical chair beside hers and turned so that they were facing each other.

"Now Miss Darling…" He began.

"Oh, do call me Wendy." The young girl interrupted.

Hook chuckled and then nodded once.

"Very well, Wendy. I wanted to thank you for saving me, that was very… unexpected." He said with a dashing smile.

Wendy smiled slightly and looked at her lap.

"May I ask what compelled you to do such a thing?" Hook inquired.

This question caught Wendy of guard, of course, and then she tried to quickly come up with a descent answer.

"Oh, um, well you see…" She started and then paused.

Wendy realized that she wasn't sure why she had done it. It had seemed so obvious that she need to save him, but to what purpose?  
She looked back up at Hook, who was waiting patiently.

"I'm not quite sure to be honest. I just felt I needed to." She finally said, with a weak smile.

The captain seemed to ponder this for a moment while absentmindedly caressing the silver hook. Young Wendy watched Hook curiously, then blushed and turned away when she realized that Hook had seen her.

"May I ask what you intend to do now?" Hook said, quite curious as to what this little storyteller had up her sleeve.

She slowly turned to face Hook with a look of utter despair plastered on her face, tears welling up in her eyes.

"I… I don't know, Captain. So far I haven't been able to come up with one idea on how to get my brothers and myself back to London… let alone all the Lost Boys." She said dejectedly.

The captain did not know why this girl's sorrow hurt him so much, but as a single tear slid down her pale cheeky he could feel his heart begin to ache. He knelt beside her chair, and gently dabbed away her tears with his handkerchief.

"Shh, there's no need for tears Wendy Darling." He soothed.

"But they're all depending on me… especially John and Michael. I'm not their mother, I'm just a girl... yet they expect me to know what to do." She said tearfully.

"It is more responsibility than a girl at your age should have to endure." Hook said, smiling reassuringly at her.

As Wendy's tears finally stopped, the captain handed the young girl the handkerchief and she dabbed away the last of her tears. He then stood and began pacing.

"If there is anything I can do to help you get home…" Hook began.

Then he suddenly stopped pacing and looked at Wendy as if he was trying to remember something.

"The fairy." He said, a grin spreading across his face.

Wendy face crumpled for a moment while she tried to understand what he meant.

"You mean Tinkerbell? What about her?" Wendy asked, looking up at Hook.

He knelt down beside her once again, so that he was eye level with the young girl.

"The fairy has tried to kill you on more than one occasion, has she not?" He asked with and odd smile.

"Yes." Wendy said, her brow furrowing even more out of confusion.

"Don't you think she would do almost anything to get you out of Neverland? And away from Peter? Even if it was to, let us say, take a dingy boat filled with children all the way back to London?" Hook then asked.

A look of understanding washed over Wendy's face and a small hopeful smile appeared.

"Oh Captain, do you think she would really help?" She asked, her voice no more than a whisper.

"I think she would do whatever it takes to get Peter to herself. Don't you agree?" He said with another smile.

Wendy nodded distractedly, her mind already racing with the different possibilities with Tinkerbell's help.

"Now my dear girl, I believe we should send one of those awful boys to find the fairy immediately. That way you and your brother's can be along your way." He said standing.

Wendy nodded, already knowing exactly who she would be sending to find Tink. Hook then offered her his arm once again, which she politely accepted, and he led her back out onto the deck. Once there Wendy crossed her arms and sighed in exasperation, glaring at all of her "children". They were running about like animals, terrorizing the crew, and they had even tied up poor Mr. Smee.

"Boys!" Wendy cried.

They all immediately stopped what they were doing and ran to line up in front of Wendy. Once they had arranged themselves into a neat line from tallest to shortest Wendy continued.

"Now boys, this is not our ship. Even if it was our ship I would never expect you to act like this while aboard. Now I want each of you to apologize to Captain Hook right this minute." She said, in her most commanding voice.

The Lost Boys all wrinkled their noses and whispered to each other for a moment.

"Boys." Wendy said, drawing their attention back to their mother.

Reluctantly they each murmured their apologies and the burning hatred in Hook's eyes began to lessen. Wendy then walked over to Nibs and looked at him seriously.

"Nibs, I need you to do something…" She whispered.

He looked intrigued, so she continued to explain to the boy how he was to go and get Tinkerbell Then he had to convince her to come back to the ship with him. Nibs nodded in understanding, and Wendy saw him open a small pouch hanging from his belt.

"Nibs, what is that?" Wendy asked just as she was about to turn away.

"This? Its fairy dust of course… Peter gave it to me. Isn't much left though." He said smiling apologetically before sprinkling himself with a bit of the remaining pixie dust.

Young Wendy watched as he floated into the air and off towards the island and she then turned back toward the Lost Boys and her brothers. They were all in a huddle and seemed to be plotting something which, as she had learned from living with Peter, never meant anything good. She crept close enough so that she could hear them discussing how easily they could kill all the pirates and Wendy could become their captain. Wendy cleared her throat, causing many of the young boys to jump.

"Now boys, you aren't going to cause any trouble are you?"

They all shook their head hurriedly, but Wendy wasn't convinced.

"Show me your hands boys and then tell me you aren't up to anything." She then said.

A number of the Lost Boys sighed and grumbled. They uncrossed their fingers and held them in front of themselves while promising they would not do anything to harm the ship, the crew, or the captain. This seemed to satisfy Wendy and she sent them on their way. She looked around and found no sign of the captain so she made her way to the railing of the ship. Wendy sighed looked out across the water, waiting patiently for Nibs to return... or at least as patiently as any young girl could wait.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hmm, let's see... so it's been forever since I updated. But we're not even going to get into_ the continuous drama that is my life_. Let's just say that I'm back and call it good. I've rewritten the first two chapters, but nothing that major I don't think... so don't feel obligated to go and re-read them or anything. Though after all this time you may have to just to remember the story. Haha.**  
**Anyways, sorry the spacing is wonky, but I'm tired and I don't really care.**  
**And I'll _try_ and get the next chapter up soon.**

* * *

Wendy Darling stood on the deck of the Jolly Rodger looking out at the dark water. She silently marveled at how beautiful and bright Neverland could be during they day, yet how it turned so dark and mysterious. Young Wendy no longer felt like the fearless mother of the Lost Boys, nor did she feel like one of the heroines from her stories. Instead, she just felt like the scared and lonely child she was. It was times like these that she would usually go to her mother for comforting, yet now she couldn't even say for sure if she would ever see her dear mother again. She wrapped her arms around herself and squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to let herself cry.  
Then Wendy heard a noise behind her and she quickly turned around. By the moonlight she could see Captain Hook leaning up against the mast, watching her with his captivating eyes.

"Good evening, Captain." Wendy said quietly, curtsying in his direction.

"And good evening to you. Are you having trouble sleeping?" He asked, standing up straight and walking towards the railing of the ship.

Wendy nodded and leaned over the railing, watching the dark water lap against the ship.

"I just cannot stop worrying. I miss my mother and father, terribly. And if Tinkerbell doesn't agree to help us… then I don't know what I will do She said frowning.

The Captain leaned against the railing and looked over at the young girl who was staring at the water intently, barely realizing how cold it had gotten.

"You are brave girl, Wendy Darling. To be truthful, you are braver than most of my moronic men. So whatever happens, I believe you will find a way to get through it." He said sincerely, before placing his jacket around her shivering shoulders and heading back towards his cabin.

Wendy smiled slightly and pulled the jacket tighter around her shoulders as she looked up at the sky.

A few hours later, Wendy had moved to sitting on the ground and leaning against the mast of the ship. The captain's jacket was still wrapped tightly around her shoulders and she kept dozing off.

"Mother? Mother?" Came a voice from right beside her.

After blinking a few times, Wendy finally noticed Nibs and jumped up from the ground.

"Oh goodness… you're back!" Wendy cried happily, hugging the small boy.

A tiny cough came from her right and when she pulled away from the Lost Boy she saw a very cross looking Tinkerbell. Wendy swallowed hard and quickly thought of a way to get the angry fairy to help her.

"Now Tink… I know you don't like me and that you probably don't want to help me, but think of it this way. If you help me I'll be out of Neverland and you'll never have to see me again." Wendy said, anxiously awaiting the little fairy's answer.

Tink's face lit up at the idea of getting rid of Wendy and she soon started laughing and nodding her head.

"So you'll help?" Wendy asked, astonished.

The fairy nodded and whispered something to Nibs before flying as fast as she could off toward the island again.

"What did she say?" The young girl asked.

But before Nibs even had a chance to answer, at least a hundred tiny lights began flying in the direction of the Jolly Roger. As they came closer, lighting the still dark Neverland sky, Nibs ran below deck to wake the Lost Boys. As the fairies and Lost Boys came onto the deck of the ship, there was a hum of excitement that quickly became louder and louder. This woke many of the pirates who quickly came to say their goodbyes to longtime foes the Lost Boys. Captain Hook then stepped out from his cabin and Wendy walked over to him, his coat in her arms.

"It worked, Captain. She agreed to help." Wendy said with a slight smile.

"Yes, I can see that." Hook said with a chuckle.

Wendy then held the jacket out and he shook his head.

"Keep it, you may get cold on your journey home." He said with a smile.

"Thank you... for everything." She said looking up at him with a sad smile.

Hook was about to say something before Tinkerbell flew over and started flying around, pulling Wendy's head. Tink then stopped in front of Wendy's face before motioning for her to hurry up and before she left she turn and stuck her tongue out in the captain's direction.

"My, she is a nasty little thing, isn't she?" He remarked as she flew away, causing Wendy to giggle and nod.

Hook looked over at the two small boats and then back at young Wendy.

"Come, you must get going." He said, taking her elbow and gently leading her toward the boat.

Wendy was about to step in when she turned to look up at the pirate.

"You could come with us, Captain. Back to London." She said somewhat hopefully, she didn't want to leave him alone in Neverland.

Smiling a pained smile, he shook his head.

"No, I regrettably have to stay here. I have unfinished business to attend to." Hook said with the slightest hint of affection.

He then glanced back at the island and scowled.

"Goodbye then Captain." Wendy said smiling slightly at him.

He gave a small bow and helped the young girl into her dingy.

"Perhaps we will meet again someday, Wendy Darling." He said, kissing her hand as the boats rose up into the air and flew far far away from Neverland.


End file.
